Saturday, October 10, 2009

Seattle Sojurns

Hello & Greetings from Philadelphia Airport !



We're in the city of Brotherly Love waiting for our flight back to Seattle. We've been here for 2 weeks visiting with the girls and grandkids and catching up with some old friends. More about all that next time.


We spent most of the month of September in the northwest and Seattle area. After visiting with friends in the San Juan Islands we moved the coach down the road to just outside Seattle in a small suburb called Burien. Another Elks Lodge and fantastic rate and 10 minutes to Seatac airport. All in all, very convenient.




Downtown Seattle & The Space Needle





Very active harbor area





Pike's Market




Asian flower market





Under the sidewalks of Seattle
Riding the ducks and seeing the bay side
Our Duck driver loved hats
$5.00 in the flower market
I-5 in downtown Seattle


We were literally 20 minutes to downtown Seattle and got to do all the tourist "things" plus I got in 2 rounds of golf and we took a side trip to Mt. Rainier.



Seattle is a fun city with lot's to do and even though it leans very "left" we enjoyed our time here. Pikes Market is a neat adventure and watching the fish mongers is an experience. The Asian community has a huge fresh flower market and the prices are not to be believed. A very active waterfront with some neat shops and major container activity defines much of the skyline with the space needle as a center point.








Seattle has a great arts museum and a neat "underground" tour. The city was originally built on mud flats and after several floods and a fire the rebuilt it: one story up. An enterprising entrepreneur has set up tours of the lower level and some neat history abounds below.



A "duck" tour of the city explained the highlights and it's an adventure going from land to water in the same vehicle ! A day trip to Mt. Rainier completed our tourist activities.



Mt. Rainier

With the mountain in the background



When we return from New Jersey we'll set about heading south after a days rest and laundry catch-up.



We need new tires on our towed vehicle (yep the 2008 Honda needs tires already) and since Oregon has no sales tax we ordered 4 new ones from Costco in Portland before going east. There's Elks Lodge near by and so we're headed south but will make a quick stop at Mt. St. Helen's to view what was left of a once huge mountain and active volcano.




Enjoy the pics, I'll get them uploaded when we get back to Seattle and will also write about the 2 weeks in Ocean City.


Gene & Laurie